Review Fix chats with Cullen Poythress from Hatchets for Hands (Drums/Vocals) to learn all about the band’s new EP, Convulsions of a Dying Empire, their creative process and goals for the rest of 2018.
Review Fix: How did the band get together?
Cullen Poythress: We’ve been friends since a really young age and at a certain point while living in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco we decided to put together a death metal group. The energy of the area really helped inspire the music and it’s been great getting to the point of finally releasing singles and this EP years later.
Review Fix: How did you get involved in music?
Poythress: We’ve been musicians since we were kids. We got into playing/writing after being influenced by artists we listened to in many different genres including rock, metal, hip-hop and more.
Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?
Poythress: Since we are a duo it’s pretty easy for us to get into a room together and hash out ideas in person and via studio sessions. Since between the both of us we made a record that would easily take 5 people to play live, the process is very smooth and has less cooks in the kitchen like other bands. We do take our time writing material, as we don’t want to put out rushed music and take what we write very seriously. However, we have a lot of fun doing this and we do music as a side part of our busy lives tied up in other creative careers.
Review Fix: What inspires you?
Poythress: We are heavily influenced by a lot of the legacy metal bands out of American and Scandinavian regions over the past 20-30 years. Lyrically and overall, we draw a lot of inspiration from our life experiences, where we live and emotionally how we are feeling at the time when writing. But really, metal inspires us. Straight up, heavy metal is what Hatchets For Hands is all about.
Review Fix: What makes “To The Grave” a special track?
Poythress: It was one of the very first tracks we ever wrote as a band and really set the tone for the other songs we’ve written since. It really made things easier since when you start a band you’re like “now what?” “got any riffs?” etc.
Review Fix: How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard you?
Poythress: Well, our first instinct would be to fuck with that person and tell them we sound like a bit of country and hip-hop put together. Then we’ll send them a link and take things from there.
Review Fix: What are your goals for 2018?
Poythress: We’re already diving into writing new songs for the next release and have some amazing ideas ready to track coming soon. We really want to keep the momentum going this year and put out music often.
Review Fix: What’s next?
Poythress: We’re putting together these ideas for new songs and talking to some great musicians about assembling our live band for future shows. So much to come!
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